Buchanan wins fifth World title

CYCLING: Australian rider Caroline Buchanan has dominated the World Four Cross Championships in Austria to win the elite women's title.

The victory in Leogang ensured the 22-year-old would have a second rainbow jersey in two months, as Buchanan also took out the BMX world title in New Zealand in July.

Buchanan said her aim in Austria had at first been just to get a good qualifying time.

"I didn't want to make it harder for myself," she said, having logged a 47.433 seconds run.

"Winning it put me in a good draw for the quarter and semi-finals."

In an hotly contested final, Buchanan made an early break at the start to stay clear of the fight for second place.

The four cross world series winner, Katy Curd (Great Britain), challenged defending world champion Anneke Beerten (Netherlands) until Beerten crashed on the final jump, snapping her front wheel into pieces.

Beerten was forced to run across the line to claim fourth place, with Curd in second and French rider Celine Gros third.

The world title win was Buchanan's fifth in five years and she becomes the youngest athlete to have won five elite world championships by the age of 22.

It was not the day Australia’s elite women triathletes would have hoped for at the 2016 Rio Test Event at the iconic Copacabana Beach over night but they will live to fight another day as they chase their Olympic dreams.

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